Thanks again for your lovely reviews. I feel as though it starts to get a bit more interesting here ;)... Comment with your thoughts and feelings to the scene and even how you think the story is coming along so far. I'm genuinely awed by your wonderful comments. :) Enjoy!

Erik's Guest: Thanks for your lovely comments again. :) I hope my characterization of Erik is coming along well. I wanted to try to run it alongside closely with the musical...but still add my own story to it and change it in the circumstances of the characters if that makes sense? :) I hope you understand the situation that Charlotte is about to have to handle. I wanted her thoughts to contrast against her actions a little bit in this one as I think she still chooses to judge certain characters on what she thinks she knows rather than what she actually does. Anyway, I'm blabbering lol. Hope my sleepy midnight explanation made sense haha. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. :)

Accusations

We took a long stroll past several of the finest Parisian stores. We both didn't exactly have the money to pay for anything but it was still nice to glance around. Shopping seemed better here than it did at home, though that was probably because we were in Paris too, only the most fashionable of places in the world.

We made our way back to the opera house in the early afternoon due to Madame Giry advising us to still keep up with our regular ballet rehearsals. I could understand why though. Who knew how long it might take before they found a new, suitable chandelier?

After a few hours of rehearsal, I retired to the chapel.

I was never much of a believer but I found it comforting to pray. It helped me feel closer to my parents. Despite them still being alive, I felt further away from them than ever. I let a few stray tears fall once I was finished, remaining on my knees on the chapel floor as I thought about everything that had happened since I arrived. Of course I loved it here, but I missed my parents too. I had to wonder if they had even noticed my disappearance and whether they were okay. If only my phone worked.

"You! I knew you were trouble from the moment I laid eyes on you!"

I tumbled from my thoughts as quickly as I had delved into them, blinking my tears away rapidly as I glanced upwards to see the furious figure of the Vicomte staring me down.

"Excuse me?"

"I believe you heard me correctly. I knew from the day we encountered you that you could not be trusted, and then you were constantly at Christine's side, playing the dependable companion you made out to be!"

"How dare you!" I quickly exclaimed, lifting myself carefully from the floor to glare at him, wishing now that I wasn't as small as I was. It was difficult to sound threatening when you were only five foot practically nothing. "I have done no such thing! Throw around insults all you like, but I have never pretended to be Meg and Christine's friend, despite what you may believe."

"Oh and you really expect me to believe that?"

"I don't really care what you believe as long as-"

"Turning her against me at every whim, probably belittling me every chance you got too. But now you shall be glad, as she has dismissed the whole engagement!"

"If you truly are arrogant enough to believe I've been spending my time sneering about you, then that is your problem, not mine. Do not accuse me of mistaken transgressions that I have never once done. And if she has finished things with you, then that is also your problem. So instead of coming to me to whine like a child, maybe you should take some time to think about why she might have called the whole thing off. Because from the insults being flung at me now, I can't imagine anybody with a sane mind who would ever want to be with you!"

With all that being said, I lifted my skirts a little with one hand to make certain I wouldn't trip in front of him. I wouldn't want to give him the satisfaction! I stormed out of the chapel with as much dignity as I could muster, internally fuming at the wronged insults that had just been thrown at me! I wasn't sure on where I could go but I definitely didn't want to be around anyone at the moment. I feared that I might cry and I didn't want Christine or Meg to see that. I was certain the fop would love to hear that he had upset me even further!

I moved towards the roof on my own accord, feeling certain that nobody would be there, despite it still being late afternoon.

Once I reached the roof though, the sobs I held back broke free. I leaned beside the door, cursing myself for allowing him to upset me. I wasn't even that upset by his lousy comments. It was just because I had been missing home and now he had purposely made my experience here that much worst!

Oh I hated him! I actually hated him! I'd always mocked the Vicomte's character as I thought he acted utterly ridiculously, constantly desperate to play the ignorant hero but now I just found him to be so bitterly insensitive. He surely must have noticed my puffy eyes when he had arrived. But no, as usual, he thought about nobody but himself! What was it he said? Oh yes, that was right. He knew I was trouble from the moment he laid eyes on me. Well then I guess I should have known I'd hate him from the moment I laid eyes on him!

I snarled, kicking the wall in fury. It was disappointment more than anything. Disappointment that I'd let him upset me.

"Temper, temper," A melodic voice teased from somewhere on the roof, making it sound as though he was everywhere and nowhere, just like our last conversation.

"Ugh, I hate him! He has no respect for anyone but himself."

The voice chuckled in that same angelic tone. "Believe me, the feeling is mutual."

I half smiled at this. At least the fop couldn't say I'd run to Christine or Meg and insulted him. No, I doubt he cared much about what the Phantom thought and I found that I liked being able to rant to somebody who would understand how aggravating the Vicomte really was.

"I wasn't crying because he upset me either!" I said quickly. "I'm crying because I miss my family and he is an obnoxious twerp who interrupted me with unfair insults that are untrue!"

The chuckle rang out again. "Of course Mademoiselle, well I would offer my services to assist you in your hatred against the Vicomte given the courtesy you bestowed upon me. But then, I do not know for certain whether that advice was honorable enough yet."

"Did you not overhear the Vicomte? Christine has ended the engagement. That must mean something. But I will decline your proposal on this occasion, because for one, he isn't worth the oxygen berating him any further and two, whether it is completely finished between her and the Vicomte is yet to be seen, but I refuse to do anything that might hurt Christine or Meg too of course."

I allowed the slight breeze to brush against my cheeks as it dried my tears whilst there was a moment of silence. I waited, certain he would speak again.

"He was mistaken to accuse you of merely feigning your friendship with Christine, was he not?"

"Yes, of course. Both Christine and Meg have been there for me since the beginning, trusting me when most would think I was insane just as the Vicomte did. I value both of their friendships and despite despising him as much as I do, I would never say anything to hurt the both of them."

He paused briefly again, before replying.

"Well then, it would seem we have more in mutual interest than just the despising of the fop."

I smiled, despite myself again and nodded in agreement. "Thanks, for the conversation by the way. I didn't want to prove him correct and run into Christine whilst I was upset. Whatever happens, she must still care for him and I wouldn't have given him the satisfaction of knowing he'd upset me either."

I waited, but when silence enveloped me, I smiled instead, and began to make my way back down the stairs, feeling at least fifty percent less angry than when I came up here, which was something at least.

The next flew past. We were still rehearsing quite a bit so Madame Giry could not accuse us of slacking. I didn't seem to be able to concentrate at the moment though. I was missing home a little despite trying my best not to dwell on things. It was just getting to the point where I was questioning why I was even here. Everything seemed to be going the same way so what was my actual purpose here?

It didn't help that the Vicomte felt it necessary to interrupt almost every single one of our rehearsals to come and talk to Christine, despite her constantly attempting to send him away. It seemed obvious that she was determined not to talk to him, but he was determined to win her back.

Oh he was so infuriating! And despite how much I tried to deny it, I found that my annoyance with him was another reason for me being so distracted.

I was delighted to finally have the weekend off from dancing as it gave us all time to recover from our busy weekly schedule. And time for me to try and clear my head.

On the Saturday, I headed out of the dormitories. My plan was to head towards town, just to go to the market to get a few things. Meg and Christine offered to come along but I was trying to gain a sense of independence. I still appreciated their help but I felt it time to start doing more things for myself.

I rounded the grand staircase, my eyes falling to the floor as I made a list in my head of the things I needed to buy. I glanced upwards, rolling my eyes at the sudden presence of the Vicomte. He seemed to have an annoying habit of sneaking up on people and given my ongoing dispute with him, he was the last person I wanted to see.

He seemed a little hesitant himself as he took small steps up the grand staircase but I continued to walk past him, hearing him click his tongue from behind me.

"I was wondering if I would be able to speak with you for a moment." He requested with usual, false politeness.

I shook my head as I continued to walk further down the staircase. "I'm afraid that I can't stop, so you shall have to trouble somebody else with your presence."

Ugh, why was I always the one to unexpectedly meet him? It was not because I wanted to, I certainly knew that. I didn't even know why I was allowing my disliking of him to distract me from ballet but it was annoying to say the least.

"I realize that I may have been rather impolite to you and I wanted to apologize for my recent behavior."

I huffed as he followed me through the front doors of the opera house and I reluctantly turned to face him. He was stood in front, appearing all too calm and collected. I frowned at the side. Why couldn't he be irritating all of the time? Or better still; just not talk to me at all.

Oh right of course. He was probably only apologizing to get back into Christine's good favors. She didn't know about our argument but she wasn't unobservant. She had probably realized how that I despised him even more given how irritated I always became whenever he visited her at the opera house.

"Please spare me your apology in an attempt to remain in Christine's good graces. It's really rather pathetic." I spat.

I wasn't in the best of moods to chat idly with him when his apology was as worthless as the charming façade he played up to.

He frowned before standing straighter as though attempting to regain his usual arrogant front. "I realize you and I will probably not agree on many things-"

"We will probably not agree on anything." I interjected with a sarcastic smile.

He glared at my interruption before continuing anyway. "Well I was hoping that we might be able to forget our differences. Perhaps even forget everything that was said the last time we spoke. We were both a little cruel, I think you shall agree."

"I think you'll find that I most certainly will not agree!" I practically growled the words at him, taping a step forwards and almost enjoying when he took a hesitant step back. "How dare you follow me out here to speak your worthless apology just to try and win back Christine!" I exclaimed, not caring whether people were staring or not now. Not when he had the nerve to hand me the blame for his sheer rudeness!

I felt a smidge of triumph when I caught him glancing around warily.

"And just so you know, I don't regret one single word I said to you! I think you're shallow, arrogant and you are cruel!"

"Please don't restrain yourself on my account." He grumbled sarcastically, his eyes narrowing. "Perhaps it would be best if we discuss this some other time-"

"No, I would not like to discuss this some other time, just because you are feeling uncomfortable. As long as you stay away from me, we shouldn't need to speak for the remainder of my stay."

"Fine," he finally grumbled.

"Fine," I hissed, before turning on my heel and marching as far away from him as physically possible.

Oh, he made my blood boil! I couldn't believe the nerve of him to harass me in such a way, just to try and make himself look as respectable as he could. He was pathetic! And I was right. Who in their right mind would ever want to be with such a nauseating person?

I was in that same horrible mood for the rest of the day. The last place I wanted to come home to was the opera house because I didn't want to see him again. I also knew I would have to return eventually. But I didn't crawl back until early evening, just as the sun began to droop in the pale blue sky, hoping that he would be long gone by now. There was nothing keeping him here anyway! Christine didn't want him here but yet he was still sniffing around. I took a long breath to try and calm me down as I headed back into the opera house knowing I had to.

I still wasn't going to tell Christine though as I didn't think it was fair on her. I had a feeling that she was torn already, without me making it any worst. And it would only be proving him right, which was never going to happen.

I made my way upstairs to the dormitories, painting on a smile when I saw Christine and Meg talking to themselves on their beds. I stepped in, sinking down on my bed. I was glad that the day was nearly over.

"Are you okay?"

I glanced over to see Christine watching me with concern. I nodded and forced a smile again.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine; I just had a tiring day." I insisted. Technically that wasn't a lie. It genuinely had been a tiring day.

"Oh, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, nothing a good sleep will not solve."

She smiled before sighing, her gaze falling to the floor. "Raoul was here again today."

"Oh," I stated flatly, trying to hide all emotion. "Well it seems he just doesn't know when to give up, does he?"

"I feel awful about everything. I think he realizes that I do not want to do anything else that might cause him more hurt, so I suppose he just feels as though he can appear unannounced."

"Not necessarily Christine." Meg quickly replied. "If you do not feel very comfortable with him being here, then you need to tell him that. Do not feel terrible for being honest about your feelings."

"She's right," I added. "It's better that continuing with a silly relationship if you know that it is not really what you want. And I think he should learn to respect your wished more too."

She glanced back to me, her forehead creasing. "Has something happened between you and Raoul? You seem harsher than usual whenever the three of us speak of him."

I blinked rapidly, forcing a laugh. "No I don't, you already know the two of us don't get along very well."

"Yes but you were always less inclined to share your opinions about him before. Now whenever we talk about him, you seem aggravated somehow."

I stifled the urge to groan. Why did she choose to be even more observant than usual?

I sighed, getting up from the bed. I had the sudden urge to run away from his conversation, given that the topic choice was a particular distaste of mine.

"Don't be silly, I just think that he should learn to accept your decision rather than continuously pestering you. He seems adamant on making you feel uncomfortable at the moment."

"And you're sure there's nothing else?"

"Yes!" I insisted. "If anyone needs me, I'll be in the chapel."

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I practically ran from the dormitories. I don't know why but even the mere mention of his name bothered me now. He wound me up before but perhaps his attitude towards me from the other day was still getting to me.

Yes, that had to be it. There couldn't be any other reason.